Health Center - Obesity
About one-third of American women 20 years of age and older are considered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Obesity is caused by multiple factors, both environmental and inherited. Learn more about this complex disorder, including risk factors and key strategies for weight loss.
Obesity Guide
How Sleep Affects Your Weight
There are plenty of reasons to get a good night's sleep. It can help you feel refreshed and more energetic the next day, not to mention reduce any under-eye puffiness and help your skin look better. But did you ever think that getting your full 40 winks could also help you maintain a healthy weight?
While it may seem intuitive that sleeping too much can lead to weight gain because it means more time spent being sedentary, emerging studies suggest that getting inadequate rest may also cause your waistline to expand.
Sleep and metabolism
One piece of research from Case Western Reserve University examined the effects of sleep on weight by studying more than 68,000 women between the ages of 39 and 65 over a 12-year period. The scientists reported that women who slept five hours or less each night tended to weigh about 6 pounds more than subjects who got at least seven hours of rest nightly. Moreover, participants who slept less also gained weight more rapidly than their well-rested counterparts.
